What's in your off road recovery kit for NC/East Coast?

[lt1fire]

Yeah I need to add some rings to it

The D Shackles are a must.... I forgot it on my list but I did have them. May be one of the few things I still have besides the winch and highlift currently.
I need to get mine back together. OHV parks near hear opened back up.... they are still full of snow where just the joining trails to the hard trails are now hard but I need to get the bronco up there.

 

[little_joe]

Cannot emphasize enough to have very solid, very reputable, properly rated and mounted tow points front and rear. Without them, you're kinda... stuck.

Regarding the HiLift, if you feel you must have one:

• Make sure you have solid lift points for the snout of the jack. Hint, factory bumpers don't meet this requirement. At all. And no sliders? No lifting from side, but you could possibly use their wheel hook thing.
• You have to have a base for it to be useful around here.
• Practice, practice, practice. HiLifts are dangerous in ways seen and unseen.

I gave my HiLift I owned since the 90's to a friend so he could mount it on his Jeep, which imho is exactly where they belong. I hated that thing and never once used it offroad; even using it at home scared the bejeesus outta me. The most useful part, to me, was the handle - nice cheater bar. There are much safer, more stable tools you can use; and there are purpose-built tools that do a much better job.

I did keep the HiLift plastic/composite base, notched out the center ribs to fit a stock Toyota bottle jack. Now that is useful. And I couple it with one of LandCruiserPhil's jack/axle adapters.

Do not overlook stock bottle jacks! They are very useful and generally do not fail. 100 times out of 100, I'd use that before even looking at a HiLift. If there's no clearance to use the bottle jack, I always asked if someone could pull me a bit to where I could use it. In addition, they can be used to press things, e.g. press down on control arm, set it between axle and frame to get some space, etc.

I have an old SafetySeal tire repair kit, and a Viair 400-something. I've permanently repaired more tires than I can count. These 2 items are gold.

After a fun recovery of my GX buried in really deep, soft sand, having those 2 front recovery points and using a bridle between them for the recovering vehicle to hook up to really opened my eyes. So much easier on both vehicles. Hint, a bridle can also be a winch line extension, clothes line, tarp/awning tie-down, on and on - a true multipurpose tool. (I ended up having a 20ft bridle made out of synthetic winch line.)

+1 to what everyone has said already, except for HiLift - which gets a -100 from me.

 

[NCFJ]

"If you go out in the woods without what it requires to self recover you deserve to spend the night" My Father. It really comes down to what level of wheeling you intend to do and what "pack" you run with. Little Joe has it down with all the basics. I am not a huge fan of the High Lift myself but I carry one just the same.

I always go big on winches, I figure I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
I double up on the snatch blocks, tree savers
several tow straps, lots of shackles-painted flo orange as the disappear in a heart beat on the ground
I carry large nylon rope for tying rigs off to trees etc. in a hurry if needed.
I am of the multiple pairs of gloves camp.

Once you get all this recovery gear, do not just throw it all in a bag and yank it out when you go wheeling. Use all of it, somewhere. Set up your winch with a snatch block in line somewhere and see how it all reacts. Spool your winch when done. I have seen some pretty interesting recoveries over the years. People put there vehicles in some pretty odd places for sure. I've put my own trucks in an odd place a time or two. Got em out, thanks Dad

 

[lt1fire]

 

[TheElegantFox]

To start things off, I ordered an ARB recovery kit: Amazon product ASIN B00R74ZC82
and these recovery boards: Amazon product ASIN B08Q852X5R

 

[Fort Knox]

Pretty impressive. I assume he went straight from the compressor, not his OBA system, which includes the tank, or else that's cheating.

 

[lt1fire]

Pretty impressive. I assume he went straight from the compressor, not his OBA system, which includes the tank, or else that's cheating.

I'd say from the compressor. Jason Traylors rig, that we parted out, had one. I used it for.a while before his brother claimed it. I never timed it but it was a lot faster than others using a viair on one uwharrie trip.

 

[uzj100]

Power bars and water too.

 

[lt1fire]

And a trunk monkey

 

[uzj100]

And a trunk monkey

Yep.

 

[NCFJ]

I have one of these, never timed it but it is way faster than any trail pump I have seen, has a handy 12K winch too

 

[SFROMAN]

Basic kit I carry in my trucks.
2 d rings
Tow strap
Collapsible shovel
Small Tarp
Air compressor
Tire deflator
Tire repair kit.
gloves
Multi tool knife

I may add to this depending on type of trip, type of wheeling, distance and or location of trip but I typically rarely not have this bare minimum gear.